NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Mapping Consortium

The NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Mapping Consortium was launched with the goal of producing a public resource of human epigenomic data to catalyze basic biology and disease-oriented research. The Consortium leverages experimental pipelines built around next-generation sequencing technologies to map DNA methylation, histone modifications, chromatin accessibility and small RNA transcripts in stem cells and primary ex vivo tissues selected to represent the normal counterparts of tissues and organ systems frequently involved in human disease. The Consortium expects to deliver a collection of normal epigenomes that will provide a framework or reference for comparison and integration within a broad array of future studies. The Consortium also aims to close the gap between data generation and its public dissemination by rapid release of raw sequence data, profiles of epigenomics features and higher-level integrated maps to the scientific community. The Consortium is also committed to the development, standardization and dissemination of protocols, reagents and analytical tools to enable the research community to utilize, integrate and expand upon this body of data.